14 DAY TRIAL // Not too long ago, Amazon unveiled its latest iteration of the Kindle e-reader, and Sony even said it wouldn't engage in a price war with its rival because it prefers to not sacrifice functionality in favor of affordability. Neither of the two, however, have actually come very close to the goal of providing a suitable color-enabled device. Amazon did, of course, suggest that the Mirasol may be a future possibility, but speculation is all that exists for now. The players may be beaten to it, however, now that Copia has made its plans public.
Copia is a company owned by DMC WorldWide and plans to enter the e-reader market in force by the time this year's fall has passed. One thing is that the 5-inch e-reader it is developing will be equipped with a color liquid crystal display (LCD) instead of a greyscale E-Ink panel. This is only half of what gives this product an aura of mystique, though. What is even more important is that it will have a price of under $100, $99 to be exact.
Needless to say, a price point of $99 would be quite capable of turning heads, especially knowing that the Kindle sells for $139 and Sony even has such electronics at $250. Granted, Copia's display itself is quite a bit smaller that those of its rivals. On the other hand, the outfit does plan on launching bigger versions of the device not much time later. The list includes multiple models, each with a screen of between 6 inches and 9 inches. As for what the electronics will do, they shall provide access to Copia's e-reader ecosystem of 400,000 ebooks, plus public domain works, in the ePub format.
What remains to be seen is whether the LCD used will be faced with the sunlight readability problem and if the battery will be able to keep up with its power draw. The 6 to 9 inch models will have prices between $199 and $299.